Joint Press Statement on the Long Island Sound Cable Repair

The New York Power Authority (NYPA), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the U.S. Coast Guard are working in close coordination with PSEG Long Island and Consolidated Edison of New York to repair NYPA’s Long Island Sound electric transmission cable and limit the release and potential environmental impact of non-toxic cable fluid that is leaking as a result of external damage to the cable. The cable was damaged on Monday morning at the mouth of Hempstead Harbor and an investigation into the incident is underway.

The small leak of cable fluid is entering the Sound at a rate of less than five gallons per hour and there is a visible sheen at the water’s surface. Crews are working to isolate the leak and will be deploying measures to capture the cable fluid close to the failure point.

Though the fluid is not hazardous, NYPA, DEC and the U.S. Coast Guard have made it a top priority to clean up the fluid that has been released. Daily overflights are occurring to monitor the incident and no wildlife or shore impact has been noted at this time. Shellfish areas in this vicinity remain open.

The outage of the line is not affecting the reliability of service on Long Island, which currently has sufficient supplies of power from on-Island and off-Island sources. NYPA plans to utilize a spare cable already installed under the Sound to bring the electric transmission line back to full operation as soon as possible while the repair effort continues.

About the Long Island Sound Cable:

The 26-mile, 345-kilovolt transmission line, which extends from Consolidated Edison’s Sprain Brook Substation in Yonkers to NYPA’s East Garden City Substation in Hempstead, was placed into service in May 1991. An eight-mile section of the transmission line is buried 10 to 15 feet underneath the Long Island Sound, from New Rochelle to North Hempstead. The line can carry up to 675,000 kilowatts of power, or the equivalent of the output of a large power plant.